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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28652295">Still Waters</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/empresses/pseuds/empresses'>empresses</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Moon in Taurus [2]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters (Anime &amp; Manga)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Angst, Bottom Kaiba Seto, Established Relationship, Explicit Sexual Content, Fluff, Insecurity, M/M, Top Jounouchi Katsuya | Joey Wheeler</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-01-09</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-01-09</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-18 06:15:21</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Explicit</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>3,266</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28652295</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/empresses/pseuds/empresses</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>If he had the time to waste, Jounouchi would berate himself — God knows, he should have known better — or curse Kaiba’s uncanny ability to dig his own grave and sit in it. </p><p>Instead, he crosses the short distance between them in a few long, determined strides, crowds Kaiba’s lithe body deeper into the cushions, and slips his tongue inside Kaiba’s pliant mouth, pulling him into a deep kiss, wet and devastatingly sensual.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Jounouchi Katsuya | Joey Wheeler/Kaiba Seto</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Moon in Taurus [2]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/2099781</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>8</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>66</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Still Waters</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><ul class="associations">
      <li>For <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/Elexica/gifts">Elexica</a>.</li>


        <li>
            Inspired by

            <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26116555">Say You Won't Let Go</a> by <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/Elexica/pseuds/Elexica">Elexica</a>.
        </li>

    </ul><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Can you tell that it's all Elexica's fault. That being said, I'm not sorry.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“Are you coming to bed with me?” Jounouchi tests the waters, tone deliberately light, watchful eyes trained on the sharp outline of Kaiba’s profile as he toes off his shoes and tosses his scarf on the coat rack in passing. </p><p>It doesn’t escape his attention that his favorite sweater has gone missing from the very same hook within the few short hours he spent away from home today, babysitting drunk adults at his co-worker’s bachelor party. Swallowing down the teasing remark already burning at the tip of his tongue, he decides that he’d be better advised not to push his luck tonight.</p><p>It’s a quarter to midnight and, predictably, Kaiba is nestled into what has long been established as <em> his </em> corner of the couch, wrapped into a large throw blanket with his laptop balancing on his thighs and their old, drowsy cat faithfully curled up at his feet. Nothing about the image itself is particularly out of the ordinary, and yet…</p><p>And yet, Jounouchi has known Kaiba for too long — too intimately so — to dismiss the tension in his husband’s posture, the mild tremble in those long, slender fingers as they continue to fly across the keyboard at a speed that frankly makes Jounouchi’s head spin a little, or the ever so slight twitch in Kaiba’s left eye — a subtle but certain sign that something is gnawing on that brilliant mind of his.</p><p>To put it mildly, Kaiba’s behavior over the past month and a half has been concerning.</p><p>At first Jounouchi had written it off to a taxing couple of weeks at the company. After all, ten years into their relationship, he is no stranger to dealing with the occasional mood swing close to an important product launch, or the grand opening of another Kaiba Land theme park abroad. </p><p>On a personal level, Kaiba may have mellowed out considerably over the past decade or so. However, once he sets foot into the office with his expectations set sky-high and very little tolerance for error, he remains difficult to impress and incredibly easy to set off. </p><p>It’s been a recipe for disaster as long as Jounouchi can remember.</p><p>When two months into the pregnancy, Kaiba’s gloominess wouldn’t seem to blow over on its own, Jounouchi began to wonder if it all boiled down to Kaiba’s hormones taking their toll on him — it’s hard to tell with Kaiba falling back into old patterns, playing his cards so damn close to his chest.</p><p>Acting distant and evasive at best, Kaiba barely speaks and refuses to meet Jounouchi’s eyes whenever he does deign to offer a response consisting of more than a syllable or two. A perpetual air of misery, disguised by layers of irritableness and false indifference, has been hanging over his head like storm clouds, shutting Jounouchi out where every piece of him craves to soothe, to comfort, to protect a man that will fight tooth and nail to remind the world that he doesn’t need protection from anyone.</p><p>Jounouchi doesn’t need a reminder of that. He never has. It’s not about that anyway. About whether Kaiba can carry his burdens on his own or not.</p><p>He can.</p><p>He doesn’t have to.</p><p>It’s as simple as that.</p><p>Even so, one look at Kaiba’s steely blue eyes and pale hands pulling the blanket around him tighter is enough to make Jounouchi understand with a cutting clarity that right now his touch isn’t welcome.</p><p>“Sounds like you’re done crunching numbers for the night,” he tries again the moment he hears the laptop click shut from behind the open door of the refrigerator, two cold bottles of water in hand. “I have at least a hundred terrible photos to show you. Of the party, I mean. I’m also about ready to pass out, so <em> are </em> you coming, or—“</p><p>“Does it matter?” Kaiba cuts him off mid-sentence, cold as ice, his voice as devoid of emotion as the piercing blue of his ocean eyes. </p><p>“Excuse me?”</p><p>“You heard me just fine.”</p><p>Briefly, Jounouchi contemplates if this is it. The breaking point, the moment when all of Kaiba’s bottled-up frustrations are finally going to boil over the edges all at once. </p><p>It appears that he will find out soon enough.</p><p>“Care to share what you’re getting at?” he responds as casually as he can manage, setting the drinks down on the counter and leaning back against it, arms crossed in front of him to prevent himself from fidgeting with his hands.</p><p>For a fraction of a second, a shadow flickers over Kaiba’s face. Something vulnerable, haunted. It vanishes as quickly as it appeared.</p><p>“I don’t see how it concerns you where I sleep.”</p><p>To say Kaiba’s words caught him off-guard would be the understatement of the year. </p><p>Taking a wary step forward, Jounouchi opens his mouth, closes it, then opens it again just to realize that the words won’t come to him. He doesn’t know what to say, isn’t even sure he really understands the question. Not that it would surprise him — with Kaiba barely anything is ever what it seems.</p><p>Frantically, he wracks his brain to make sense of it, runs his mind through the rather unspectacular events of the past few days, weeks, every sparse conversation they’ve had, anything that could have led them to this moment, and comes up empty-handed.</p><p>Of course, his hesitancy only irks Kaiba more.</p><p>“Don’t take me for a fool, Katsuya,” he laughs, a hollow, mirthless sound that has the blood freezing over inside Jounouchi’s veins.</p><p>“You haven’t put your hands on me in weeks,” Kaiba continues with such an eerie calm that it makes Jounouchi wish he was raging, screaming, picking up the empty wine glass from the coffee table and sending it shattering against the wall in a flurry of jagged shards. </p><p>He’s learned a long time ago that behind the facade devoid of emotion lurks a soul brimming over with hurt and anger and fear, with pride, with loathing, with hunger for love and a grating, ever-present certainty that if he allowed himself to care, it would only be a matter of time until he’d find himself paying the price.</p><p>The more impervious the act, the greater the detriment.</p><p>“You don’t care to mark me the way you used to. You don’t look at me when I undress. The last time you fucked me was a month ago. <em> Your scent—“ </em></p><p><em> “How am I supposed to look at you when you lock yourself in the bathroom to change?” </em> Jounouchi blurts back before his brain gets the chance to catch up with his mouth. </p><p>It’s hard to think clearly, to wrap his head around anything Kaiba is saying when Jounouchi has spent the better part of the past four weeks masking his desire each damn time he got a glimpse at the soft swell of his husband’s stomach under his shirt, masking his arousal, masking wave after mind-numbing wave of pheromones in an attempt to back off, respect Kaiba’s wishes, give Kaiba the space he’d been asking for loud and clear — or so Jounouchi thought.</p><p>“A few days ago I dared to slip my hand under your clothes and you <em> flinched away </em> like you’d been burned,” he reminds Kaiba incredulously, throwing his hands up in defeat. </p><p>“You’ve been pretty clear about your boundaries, whether you know it or not. What was I supposed to do — force you down and make you take it?<em> Who the hell do you take me for? </em>”</p><p>Still, the hard expression on Kaiba’s face reveals nothing but Jounouchi doesn’t miss the way Kaiba’s iron-grip on the blanket loosens just enough to reveal a sliver of worn maroon fabric — Jounouchi’s missing sweater.</p><p>He remembers offering it to Kaiba a couple short days after they’d found out that Kaiba was pregnant, only to get lectured by his husband, who was busying himself re-arranging the growing pile of pillows on their king-sized bed for the third time in the past twenty minutes.</p><p>Kaiba Seto doesn’t <em> nest</em>. Yeah, right.</p><p>Despite everything, Jounouchi can’t help but smile fondly at the memory.</p><p>“My body— we both know that it isn’t the same, so quit trying to spare my feelings. Quit pretending that you want this,” Kaiba scoffs, making a vague gesture towards what lies hidden beneath the covers.</p><p><em> That you want me, </em> he doesn’t have to say for Jounouchi to hear it.</p><p>“You really don’t have a clue, do you?” Jounouchi mutters under his breath, more to himself than Kaiba, whose guarded eyes follow Jounouchi’s hand to his back pocket from which he produces a small bottle of pills.</p><p>Kaiba catches it with ease, turning it over in his palm and quickly skimming over the worn label.</p><p>“Scent suppressants,” he reads quietly, lets his gaze linger on Jounouchi’s face for a long moment in search of any sign of dishonesty.</p><p>If he had the time to waste, Jounouchi would berate himself — God knows, he should have known better — or curse Kaiba’s uncanny ability to dig his own grave and sit in it. Instead, he crosses the short distance between them in a few long, determined strides, crowds Kaiba’s lithe body deeper into the cushions, and slips his tongue inside Kaiba’s pliant mouth, pulling him into a deep kiss, wet and devastatingly sensual.</p><p><em> “This whole time you’ve wanted me to…” </em> Jounouchi trails off as the blanket slides from Kaiba’s shoulders and pools around his hips, revealing a pair of loose black sweatpants that his husband wouldn’t have been caught dead wearing a mere two months ago. Above the waistband, the frayed seam of Kaiba’s stolen sweater rides up over the growing bump of his belly and finally, like a wire strung too tight, Jounouchi feels something buried deep inside of him snap.</p><p>A low growl tears from his throat, a voice he barely recognizes as his own.</p><p>It’s a matter of seconds until he has Kaiba on his hands and knees, one large hand resting protectively on Kaiba’s stomach, the other tugging Kaiba’s pants down below his ass to expose the smooth, milky skin of his thighs, fingers twisting into the soaked fabric of Kaiba’s underwear and pulling it aside to get at his hole.</p><p>Underneath him, Kaiba curls like a petal, his spine arching prettily as he drops his chest to the couch and spreads his legs with a needy little moan at the silent tap of Jounouchi’s finger against his inner thigh. </p><p>There’s a heady scent in the air, vaguely familiar, yet unlike anything Jounouchi has come to love as so distinctly <em> Kaiba </em> — earth and smoke and sandalwood, the air after the rain. Jounouchi can’t quite put a finger on it, can’t think straight with his mind in a daze and the primal desire to feel Kaiba writhing in pleasure on his cock threatening to consume him whole.</p><p>Their eyes meet when Kaiba glances at him over his shoulder, long dark lashes lowered seductively, pink lips parted just so while he watches Jounouchi fumble with the button of his jeans. </p><p>That’s when it hits him.</p><p>“You don’t have to do that,” Jounouchi says firmly, an echo of the words he whispered into Kaiba’s ear over a decade ago. It takes him back to the first time Kaiba allowed him into his bed, let Jounouchi take care of him when his heat-crazed mind left him helpless, vulnerable, entirely at the Alpha’s mercy.</p><p>That night, watching in awe as Kaiba came apart at the seams in the safety of his arms, Jounouchi learned of reverence and taught Kaiba of faith in return, one tender touch at a time.</p><p>Faith in Jounouchi’s intentions and the sincerity of his passion that had no need for Kaiba’s quiet, calculated attempts at luring him. He’s never been interested in sweetness, warm honey and spice, far more intrigued by Kaiba’s rough edges and indomitable strength.</p><p>“Don’t you ever think that one day, one second passes that I don’t think of you… <em> One goddamn second </em> that I don’t look at you and feel like I’m seventeen and so in love I can’t breathe.”</p><p>He closes his eyes and lightly presses his lips to the small of Kaiba’s back, takes a moment to linger there before smoothing his palm down the long arch of Kaiba’s spine, leaving a trail of soft kisses in his wake. </p><p>“You’re so fucking beautiful like this. God, I’m gonna eat you up…”</p><p>Kaiba shudders and squirms under the attention, so freely given and all on him, always on him — Jounouchi won’t ever let him forget it. </p><p>When he reaches the base of Kaiba’s neck with an affectionate nip to the sensitive skin there, his husband tips his head to the right with a broken groan, hips bucking wildly at the slap of Jounouchi’s throbbing cock, hot and heavy against his backside. </p><p>Jounouchi finds Kaiba’s hand where it’s fisted tightly into the sheets, pries it open slowly, carefully, <em> gently </em>, and slips his fingers into the gaps between Kaiba’s longer ones, the sound of their wedding bands clinking together soft and grounding to his ears. </p><p>Only then, draped over the broad planes of Kaiba’s back to cover him whole, to give it to him hard, his free hand carefully cradling his stomach, does Jounouchi allow himself to give in to the warm, wet temptation between his husband’s legs. </p><p>It’s not the hot, overwhelming tightness of him, not the way Kaiba squeezes around Jounouchi’s fat shaft as it stretches him open in one languid thrust, so impossibly deep it has Kaiba’s eyes rolling into the back of his head with the sheer intensity of it. </p><p>It’s not the maddening scent of sex or the lewd squelch of Kaiba’s slicked-up hole milking his cock as he starts driving into him rough and fast, teeth sunk into the faded bond mark at the junction of Kaiba’s shoulder and neck.</p><p>It’s his cries that bring Jounouchi to his knees, leaving him teetering on the verge of insanity with the blinding need to please, to give, <em> give Kaiba everything. </em></p><p><em> “Shit, Seto, </em>I’ve got you,” Jounouchi promises, breathless, ignoring the searing pain in his muscles, and the burn in his thighs, fucking into Kaiba the way he deserves to be fucked.</p><p>“I’ve got you babe.”</p><p>Somewhere in the back of his head, he knows that he’s rambling, gasping and moaning Kaiba’s given name between sweet, filthy nothings like a lovesick fool, his touch never straying from where he’s cradling the precious swell of Kaiba’s stomach.</p><p>His husband can be pretty dense for someone so terrifyingly smart, Jounouchi thinks to himself, to believe Jounouchi was anywhere but in the palm of his hand.</p><p>“Don’t you dare go easy on me—” Kaiba snaps hotly, voice-breaking mid-growl as Jounouchi takes the opportunity to shove three fingers between his spit-slick lips and fuck that cocky mouth in quick, ruthless thrusts, his knot catching on Kaiba’s rim, thick and pulsing. </p><p>“Wouldn’t dream of it,” he promises; swallows Kaiba’s whorish moans in a messy clash of tongues and teeth. </p><p>Kaiba shudders in his embrace, still reeling from the sensation of Jounouchi’s full, hard length pressing into his willing body, rutting into the sweet spot deep inside of him until he comes wetly all over Jounouchi’s cock.</p><p>“You’re so good,” Jounouchi hears himself whisper as if from far, far away and his own climax crashes over his head like a tidal wave, drowning out every other thought.</p><p> </p><p>—</p><p> </p><p>Hours past midnight, their bedroom is plunged into a peaceful quiet, illuminated only by the pale rays of moonlight filtering through the curtains and onto the organized chaos of pillows and blankets that Kaiba insists is not a nest.</p><p>(Naturally, Kaiba rules over it just as stubbornly, turning bristly and defensive when Jounouchi knocks a cushion out of place on accident or scatters potato chip crumbs all over the sheets during movie night. </p><p>Not that Kaiba <em> cares</em>. It’s about manners, or Jounouchi’s lack thereof, he will explain and Jounouchi will let it slide with an indulgent smile. </p><p><em> Whatever you say</em>, he’ll laugh under his breath and reach up to card his fingers through Kaiba’s hair, soft and tousled by sleep.)</p><p>The first thing Jounouchi registers after awakening from his light doze is exhaustion — the bone-deep kind, the kind that leaves you limp and heavy, yet strangely, deeply content. </p><p>The second is heat, soft and moist and perfect, engulfing the head of his cock like a dream.</p><p>A set of striking blue eyes, glazed over with lust, snaps up at him in the darkness as he stirs with a groan, boring into him without a hint of shame while Kaiba makes a show of noisily suckling Jounouchi’s half-hard length from base to tip.</p><p>It’s one of those nights, Jounouchi realizes groggily, when there’s no escaping Kaiba’s boundless appetite — not that he would want to anyway. </p><p>“You’re impossible,” Jounouchi sighs dramatically, throwing an arm across his face to hide the foolish grin he can’t stop from spreading on his lips, and begins to roll his hips indulgently, idly fucking up into Kaiba’s tight throat. </p><p>“Insatiable.”</p><p>He tries not to think about how many times he’s spread Kaiba’s pretty legs tonight, how many times he’s filled his husband’s pliant body with his seed, tries not to think about that sinful mouth stretched eagerly around his hardening cock, red lips swollen and shiny with spit, and fails miserably.</p><p>“Patience isn’t one of my many, many virtues, Katsuya,” Kaiba reminds him with a lazy drawl, giving his cockhead one final slow lick before crawling up to Jounouchi’s chest in a manner that borders on threatening.  “Is that a problem for you?”</p><p>“Oh, I don’t know, Seto,” Jounouchi smirks up at him roguishly, pretends he doesn’t notice the color rising to his husband’s cheeks when he grabs a handful of Kaiba’s ass, softer and fuller than the last time he had been allowed to explore Kaiba’s body less than two months into the pregnancy, and guides him into position. </p><p>“You tell me.”</p><p>Kaiba keeps him up until sunrise, riding his knot until Jounouchi sees stars dancing before his eyes and his lovedrunk mind has convinced itself that he was made for this, made for <em> his </em> pleasure, made for <em> him </em>. And although Kaiba can be a handful sometimes, to put it mildly, he wouldn’t want it any other way.</p><p>“I love you,” he whispers later as he gently circles Kaiba’s navel with the pad of one finger. “Both of you.”</p><p>Kaiba shoots him a look, one long, elegant eyebrow raised in mock scepticism.</p><p>“We’ll see about that when I’m too heavy to move from the nest to the fridge to get myself a glass of water and the pain in my back turns me into an ill-tempered fiend,” he counters dryly, though his expression softens into a faint smile.</p><p>“I’ve been married to your prickly ass for how many years now? I think I’ll manage.”</p><p>“Touché.”</p><p>To Jounouchi’s credit, he <em> tries </em> to bite his tongue, to give Kaiba a break. Just this once. Unfortunately for Kaiba, it’s too rare of a slip-up, too precious of an opportunity to let it go to waste.</p><p>“Anyway, big shot, what was that about moving from the <em> nest </em>to the—“ he snickers with a shit-eating grin that earns him a withering glare and quite the nasty kick to the shin.</p><p>There’s a familiar spark igniting in the electric blue of Kaiba’s eyes, dangerous, just this side of feral. It makes him look younger, reminiscent of years gone by, and Jounouchi’s heart skips a beat.</p><p>He missed this, he realizes.</p><p>Then, for the first time in weeks, he breathes easy, like a weight had been lifted off his chest.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Thank you so much for reading and feel free to talk to me in the comments - it makes my entire day! ♡</p><p>You can also find me on <a href="https://kaibasetc.tumblr.com/">@kaibasetc</a>.</p></blockquote></div></div>
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